Endoscopy, and especially laparoscopic endoscopy, has been a rapidly growing surgical practice in the past decades. Accessing the patient's laparoscopic cavity is typically done via holes, usually punctured with a sharp element referred to as a trocar. In order to penetrate the patient's laparoscopic cavity, the trocar is placed into a tubular element referred to as a cannula, such that the sharp end of the trocar is protruding from the cannula's distal end. Once the trocar end punctures the abdominal wall and enters the body cavity, it can be withdrawn and various surgical instruments may then be introduced through the cannula and into the body cavity.
Cannulas are most commonly a single patient use instrument, although there is greater interest in developing reposable (i.e., suitable for a relatively low number of surgical uses) and/or reusable (i.e., suitable for a relatively high number of surgical uses) cannulas that can be appropriately sterilized again and again for use with multiple numbers of patients. Attempts to design and/or manufacture conventional cannula systems that are reposable and/or reusable have not been entirely satisfactory.
Accordingly, there exists a need for new and improved reusable cannula systems that overcome at least one of the aforementioned disadvantages.